Rotorcraft Report: WNAA EMS Flies 7,000th Mission

PUBLIC | EMS

The U.K.’s Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance flew its 7,000th mission on February 26, 2009. The service, which has relied on a single AgustaWestland AW109 since being launched in October 2003, transported a 70-year-old heart attack victim from Coventry’s Cotswick Grange Golf Club to Walsgrave Hospital.

"It’s a huge milestone for us," said WNAA Air Operations Manager Steve Porter. Since WNAA only flies for the "most serious of jobs," Porter estimated that the WNAA EMS service has literally saved thousands of lives during its 7,000 flights. In doing so, this charity-funded organization has proven the value of having an air ambulance service. Based in Coventry, the WNAA covers 2,500 square miles in the middle of England.

In all those missions, and Porter has been flying with WNAA since the beginning, some stand out in Porter’s mind. On the heart-wrenching side was the transport of a little girl who had been seriously mauled by a dog. Thanks to the WNAA’s speedy response to the scene and subsequent medical care, "her mother brought the girl into our base six months later, well recovered and with little memory of what had happened to her," Porter told R&W.

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